The Tangled Webs We Weave
by ren3017
Summary: Updated Nov 11. Chapter 10. Jack and her older sister were saved by a younger Richard B. Riddick. PrePB
1. Chapter 1

Discloser: I own nothing from Pitch Black, butI do ownRae Lynn. I'm not making anything from this.

A/N: I have been a quite the lurker for some time, and figured, since this story has been ricocheting around in my head for some time now, I might as well share it. This is my first fan fic, so please be honest with your reviews. I can handle the flames. Trust me when I say that there are no flames out there that are hotter than the ones I give myself.

So Please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!

This story is mapped out in my head and some of it is already typed up, but I want to apologize if my updates are anything but regular. I have a 5 year-old and don't really get much time to myself.

The lyrics to "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" are from the version sung by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole.

Summary: Not too sure how to describe it…I know how pathetic…Anyway here we go…

The Tangled Webs We Weave

**Chapter 1.**

After flipping the light switch, the woman quickly moved to her oldest daughters' bed. "Rae!" she said as she shook her daughter. " Rae Lynn, get up!" The girl moaned and looked up with squinting eyes. Watching her mother race around the room in frenzy, Rae Lynn instantly knew there was something very wrong.

Quickly sitting up she asked, "Momma, what is it? What's wrong?"

No sooner had Raelynn finished the questions, than she heard the faint noises of gunfire, and screaming in the distance.

Rae Lynn's body was frozen with fear, as she watched her mother quickly scoop up her week-old baby sister, Jacquelyn. As Rae Lynn's mother handed little Jacquelyn to her, she said, "Honey, you have to take your sister and hide!"

The confusion must have been evident on her face, for her mother shouted at her. "Quickly! Now, Rae! They'll be here any minute!"

No sooner had Rae taken her sister from her mother; she was gone, shutting the door quickly behind her. Rae knew her mother was terrified, for her mother never yelled, or even raised her voice to her in all her 12 years of life. She moved quickly when she stopped thinking and heard the gunfire and shouting getting a little louder, not much, but it meant that "they" were getting closer. 'Not Good'.

She looked around the room. She didn't know where they should hide. Their room was at the back of the house. There were only two ways out; the door, which her mother closed on her frantic way out of the room, and the window. She sure wasn't going to go out the window, knowing exactly what was out there.

"Hell," Rae thought aloud.

Jacquelyn moved in Rae's arms, as she unconsciously pulled the infant tight to her chest. Rae Lynn knew the only place they might have any kind of chance would be the closet. She quickly rushed to it, wrenched it open, hunkered down into the corner, and shut the door. There was a pile of blankets at her feet, so she gently set her sister down, hearing her mothers voice in her head, _'Rae make sure to support her head as you lay her down. If your going to hold her, you need to support her that way until her neck muscles are strong enough for her to do it herself'_ That thought made Rae both happy and sad. Happy, because she remembered what her mother said, and sad, because her mother was out there somewhere, as was her father.

She was terrified…for her sister, for her mother and father but mostly for herself. If who ever was out there shooting, came into their home, she knew that even though her father would fight to protect them, there would really be no stopping them._ 'What's gonna happen to me? To Jackie?' _

As much as her parents tried to protect her from some of the more cruel facts of life, she had heard stories of girls being kidnapped and sold into slavery. The thought of that made her shudder.

Rae's 12 year-old mind was reeling, spiraling downward into the darkness with every grim thought of what, and why, all of this was happening. Rae Lynn started to cry. She couldn't believe she hadn't started before that point.

The gunfire was even louder now. It seemed as if "they", whomever "they" were, had reached the Biggs family next door, because she heard Mr. Biggs shouting for Mason, his oldest son, to run. Then there was more gunfire.

Rae tried her hardest not to picture Mason falling to the ground from the hail of bullets, but to no avail. Soon, the guns went silent. That is when Rae Lynn noticed little Jacquelyn's crying.

"Shhhhhhh! Jackie. Shhhhhh!" Rae Lynn whispered as she lay down next to the wailing infant. "Please stop Jackie. Shhhh! Please!" she begged through her tears.

Suddenly there was a loud crash at the front of the house. Men shouting "GET DOWN!" "DON'T MOVE! I SAID DON'T MOVE!" Then the RATTA, tat, tat, tat of a gun. All the while, Rae Lynn's mother was screaming.

Rae Lynn shuttered violently, knowing that her father was dead.

"Riddick shut that screaming bitch up. She's giving me a headache."

A single gunshot rang out, and Rae Lynn felt it go straight through to her soul. She silently whimpered in agony, mourning the loss of her mother.

Suddenly she realized, she couldn't hear Jacquelyn's cries any longer. Fearing she had smothered her own sister, she looked at her. Jackie's mouth was still quivering, but yet the only sound Rae heard was her heart pounding, her blood rushing in her ears.

Then the closet door opened…

A hand reached down and grabbed Rae Lynn by her hair. Pulling her up and out of the small closet in one fluid motion. She cried out in pain as the man slammed her against the wall, a hand against her throat.

"Stop crying" the man demanded.

Rae could hardly see the man through her blurry and tear-swollen eyes, but she quickly tried to stop, knowing what they did to her mother for_ her_ incessant howling. Slowly her vision started to clear, she tried not to look the man in the eyes. Instead she looked down towards the floor, taking note of the military type fatigues and boots he was wearing. _'Military? What? Why?'_.

She caught a whiff this man as he moved his face closer to hers as her whimpering subsided. He stunk unbearably bad. _'Like he rolled in a diaper.'_

Stinky Man sneered at her, making her notice that his lip had been split open. She hoped that it was a result of her fathers fist connecting with his face.

He ran the knuckles of his dirty hand down her tear stained cheek. Rae shuttered as her mind raced to the thought of rape and slavery she had had minutes ago.

"SHUT THAT FUCKING KID UP! FOR FUCKS SAKE! " Stinky man shouted, releasing her throat and shoving her towards the closet.

Rae had almost forgotten about Jackie. She quickly picked Jackie up and held the tiny baby to her chest. She gently rocked back and forth, and bounced up and down, all at once, while gently hushing in Jackie's ear. Just as she had seen her mother do earlier in the day. Silently pleading with her sister to stop.

" I SAID SHUT IT THE FUCK UP!"

Jackie's crying only got louder when he shouted. In frustration, Stinky Man raised his hand to hit Rae. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the blow, but it never came.

Slowly she opened her eyes and noticed a different soldier starring at her instead. His jaw locked in irritation, no doubt because of Jackie's crying.

'_Where did this guy come from? Did I go deaf again? Where did Stinky Man go? Do you really care where He went?'_

Rae tried the rocking, bouncing, hushing thing again and hoped it would work this time. "Please, Jackie, please." Rae quietly whispered in her sisters' tiny ear.

As Rae worked to quiet the baby down, she watched the quiet soldier cautiously. He just stared at her. His eyes were calm, his face dead pan. _'Well, I think I like this one better. At least he's not looking at me like Stinky Man.' _As she looked at him, she realized he wasn't a whole lot older than her. _'Maybe he joined right after school.'_ He appeared a little taller than her father; his baldhead had a slight sheen of sweat covering it. She couldn't help herself when the thought of had this man lived around here he definitely would have every young girl after him. His deep brown eyes, seemed so engaging, and she was certain that had they met under other circumstances she would have wanted to see him smile.

'_Your mother and father are dead. Killed by this man. You and Jackie are probably next. How can you possibly think of him like that?'_

Taking her eyes off the soldier, she looked around her room. They destroyed it. Some of her clothes had been ripped out of her drawers, and strewn about the floor. The porcelain ballerina her parents gave her for her last birthday, which sat on her dresser, was now in pieces on the floor. The photos she had of her parents had been knocked over. And the books that her father used to read to her had spilled to the floor in a domino type fashion. _'What are they looking for? We're farmers for crying out loud. We don't have anything worth stealing. Except maybe vegetables.'_

Her legs and lower back were getting sore from rocking Jackie. She very slowly, as to not startle the soldier, made her way to the bed, which surprisingly hadn't been overturned, to sit down.

"They ain't got shit," Stinky Man shouted from the front of the house, sounding rather disappointed.

Rae watched Quiet Man clench his jaw at the sound of the other man's voice. She wasn't sure if it was what Stinky Man said or rather just the man himself, but it made him growl. Rae had heard him, and smiled a little. His stare faltered a bit when she smiled, but both quickly recovered as they heard Stinky coming down the hallway towards the room

"Riddick. You find anthin' worth taken?" Stinky asked Quiet Man as he walked in the room.

Riddick, turning his head to look at the man, said "No. Just like you said Sir, they ain't got shit."

Riddick slowly moved from the doorway towards the bed where Rae sat holding Jackie, who had finally drifted off to sleep,

"What's your name kid?" Stinky asked, standing in the doorway.

"Ra…Rae Lynn, Sir " Rae managed to barely choke out. "What's yours?"

Stinky smirked slightly at her boldness, and said "Lieutenant Wiffman"

Given the severity of the situation, Rae tried really hard not to laugh at him. He could turn and shoot her in the head and not think twice about it, but knowing her name for him and hearing his real name, it had to be a joke right?

Storming out of the room, Wiffman commanded, " Kill her! Leave the baby alive. And move out!"

"No! Please! I'm sorry." Rae yelped, unable to control herself.

She looked up at Riddick with teary, pleading eyes. He had turned his head sharply towards the door to the room. Rae thought she saw panic flash across his face, but swept that thought out of her head as fast as it came in. Slowly, Riddick turned back to look at her, but still didn't raise his gun.. There was a sadness written in his deep brown eyes, one that she had seen in her parents' eyes-only after they fought, and were getting ready to apologize to one another.

"That was an order Private!" Wiffman shouted, appearing in the doorway again from out of nowhere.

"Sir, the baby can't survive by itself. There will be no one left to take care of it if I kill her." Riddick stated

"That's the point soldier. Our orders were to leave no one alive. Her knowing the baby is going to die slowly is the little bitchs' payment for laughing at me." He said as he retreated back to the front of the house.

Still staring at Riddick, trying to hold back the flood of tears that threatened to fall, she shook her head franticly, silently begging him not to listen to the lieutenant.

Riddick moved so that he stood directly in front of Rae Lynn. Staring down at her, then at Jackie. He brought his hand to the top of Jackie's head and gently brushed the fuzz on her head, he quietly asked "What's the baby's name kid?"

"Jacquelyn.

"Mr. Riddick? Sir? Please? You can't do this. She's only a week old. Please?" Rae Lynn whined, begging him to do the right thing.

Riddick slowly raised his finger to his mouth, silently telling her to shhhh, as he removed his gun from its holster on his hip. Rae Lynn could not stop the river of tears that fell from her eyes. Slowly she closed her eyes, shifting Jackie up a little higher on her chest and started rocking back and forth, softly singing the only song that had managed to come into her head.

_Someday I'll wish upon a star  
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me  
Where trouble melts like lemon drops  
High above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me  
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly  
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why can't I?  
Well I see trees of green and  
Red roses too,  
I'll watch them bloom for me and you  
And I think to myself  
What a wonderful world  
Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white  
And the brightness of day  
I like the dark and I think to myself  
What a wonderful world_

"GOD DAMN IT! PRIVATE, I GAVE YOU AN ORDER!" Wiffman roared, rushing in to the room.

BANG!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: MAJOR REVISION. Realized that it would have taken waaaaay too long to get where I wanted to be. Hope you like it. Please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**

**Chapter 2.**

Rae shot up, gripping the thin sheet in her white-knuckled fists. Her breath coming out in gasps, as her heart tried to leap through her chest. Looking around, she realized that she was in the small apartment she and her sister Jackie shared. It wasn't really an apartment but a refurbished storage room with a toilet. Her neighbors referred to her apartment as 'The Pen-house'. Seeing as many of them had spent some time in the local prison, she had to take their word for it. She didn't mind too much but she felt bad for Jackie. She wished she could afford and offer her 7-year-old sister more than the tiny room, and second hand clothes.

Her muscles started to slowly uncoil; as she fell back to the thin mattress they called a bed. Pushing the palms of her slender hands into her eyes, she growled. That made four nights in a row. The dream of her parents' murders had always plagued her, but never like this. It was as if it had just happened, it was so real. She even thought she could smell the evil bastard again.

Jackie shifted on the mattress to look at Rae, sensing the disgust rolling of her sister in waves, she asked "Again?"

"Yeah." Rae stated, with a sigh. She knew where this line of questioning was going to go.

"How far did it go this time?"

"When he shot Stinky".

Jackie knew the story, and knew it well. It never failed to amaze Rae Lynn though, how much Jackie loved to hear the story, over and over again. It also shocked Rae that she didn't mind telling it, just as often.

"Tell me what happened after that."

"You know the story Jack."

"Yeah, I know. But I like it when you tell me the story. Please, I always miss something here and there. Please?" Jackie begged. Rae realized that Jackie was kneeling next to her on the bed.

"Alright. But only until you fall asleep. You have school."

Jackie quickly snuggled up her sister, her head on Rae's shoulder, her arm thrown about her waist. It made Rae smile, as the eager young girl looked up at her, waiting for the story to begin.

"Well, remember, Riddick had just shot the bastard. I will never forget watching Riddick drag Wiffmans body down the hall by his arm. I really couldn't believe he killed him and not me. I got up off the bed to quiet you and walked to the door. I wanted to know where he was taking him. I watched as he easily dragged the dead man down the hall, towards the front of the house. Wiffmans foot had hit something."

"Mom's arm" Jackie blurted

"Am I telling this? 'Cause ya know…"

"No! I'm sorry, go ahead." Jackie apologized as she settled back into her spot.

"I almost threw up when mom's arm fell into sight. Riddick must have seen me and what I was looking at 'cause he moved it back out of sight and walked towards me, He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, 'Come on kid.' He said, and he walked me back into the room, and sat me down on the bed. 'Stay here.' Then he shut the door.

"I figured out later that he was moving mom and dads' bodies out of the way. But I just stared at the wall for what seemed like forever." Rae paused and looked down at her sister, "Jack, you were getting fussy again. Figured you need your diaper changed. So I quickly, well as quickly as I could, changed it. I had only seen mom do it twice, I thought I did rather well."

Jackie started to laugh at her sisters boasting.

"Hey, at least I didn't prick ya with the pins. Almost did, but I didn't. And it managed to stay on soo… "

"Yeah. That's what you say. How do I know you aren't just telling me that to make yourself look better?" Jack asked slyly.

"Anyways… The diaper change and new set of clothes still didn't make you happy. You were still fussy. I remember wanting to cry, and thinking that it was just you and me know." Rae gave her a small hug as she said the last part.

"Just then the door flew open," Rae blurted out, startling Jackie, and making her giggle.

Rae Lynn continued "'Easy kid,' Riddick said. God he scared me. 'What happens now?' I asked."

Making her voice deep and kinda menacing, Rae tried her best to imitate the big man, "'now?' He said 'Now you stay here in this room. You sit here. You wait. Most importantly, you **keep** that kid **quiet.' **He was harsh, but trust me, I needed him to be. Then I asked about food. He looked at me like I had three heads. I had to point out that you hadn't eaten in a while, and that's why I thought you were still fussy. I told him that there should have been some bottles in the refrigeration unit. He nodded at me and disappeared, returning a few minutes later with three bottles, some cookies, and a jug of water. He handed one of the bottles to me, and I started to feed you, while I watched him set the rest of the stuff on the bed behind us. Then sat down next to us. He was a big guy, not fat but solid, strong.

"He sat there, watching you as you ate. He gently rubbed your tiny head. It practically disappeared underneath his big hand. He looked troubled as he sat there, petting you when he blurted out that he was left in a garbage bin, his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. I remember looking up at Riddick; his eyes were filled with…"

"Fear?" Jackie asked sleepily, cutting Rae off

"No. Not fear… grief, and sorrow, maybe even guilt…'I'm so sorry' I remember saying as I reached up and touched his face. He kinda flinched, there was panic in his eyes now, but he slowly closed his beautiful brown eyes, leaned into my hand, and sighed. For a brief moment, he looked totally at peace. All of the tension that I had seen in his jaw, neck and shoulders seemed to completely disappear. That moment actually only lasted a few seconds, before his eyes quickly shot open, and every ounce of his tension returned."

Rae Lynn looked down at her sister, who had finally drifted back to sleep." Thank god." Rae whispered. _Now I can try to get back to sleep_.

The harder she tried to sleep, the more she thought about the rest of the story, of how Riddick spared them. The memories came flooding back.

_He said, 'I'm a good soldier. I have never disobeyed an order before. And I certainly have never killed a superior officer before. Don't make me regret what I have done for the two of you.' With that, he stood, un-holstered his gun, and pulled something from one of his pockets. He handed both items to Rae._

"_Remember, stay here. At least 'til dawn breaks, and **be quiet. **Those goggles" he pointed, "are so you can see in the dark. If ANYONE comes through that door, shoot them" he paused. "Even if it's me. Got it?"_

"_Yes sir. Thank you Mr. Riddick" Rae said as she nodded. Though the words could never fully express the gratitude she had for this soldier in front of her, she was thankful she at least got to say them. Or rather, say anything at all._

_She looked down at the goggles lying in her lap; she grabbed them and put them on her head, then looked at Riddick. He nodded at her and hit the light switch. The room disappeared, as did Riddick when the door shut._

_Rae Lynn sighed as she heard another door slam shut. He's gone. She slowly lowered the goggles onto her face._

_Rae sat there looking around her room with the goggles on. Everything was a different shade of green. She slowly looked down at Jackie, now lying peacefully on the bed. How lucky, she won't remember any of this, but she'll never really know our parents either._

_She was sure her parents- well at least her father- put up some kind of fight. Stinky Man, No Rae, remember his name was Wiffman. She smirked at the thought of his name. Had a split lip, the cut looked pretty fresh so she told herself her father got in a good punch before they killed him. And her mothers screams- I'll never forget that sound._

_Rae's mind raced trying to figure out which one of the soldiers killed her mother. Whether she couldn't remember, or she didn't want to, she didn't know._

_Why did it really matter now anyway? Her parents were gone. She was still alive, resulting in Jackie not being left alone to die; the man that spared her life had killed the man that ordered him to kill her. _

_Rae thought about the soldier. She didn't now what it meant to be a soldier, but she knew he had broken every bond of trust he ever had with his comrades, just so he could look himself in the mirror in the morning. Rae Lynn's heart cried for him, when he told her of his abandonment. How could anyone do that to their own child? In that admission, he gave her a reason as to why he killed his lieutenant. Knowing what was done to him was not going to be done to someone else- if he could prevent it._

_Rae couldn't understand it, but the more she thought about Private Riddick, the more she relaxed. She walked over and picked up some of the pieces of her ballerina that apparently had gotten kicked across the room. She held them together as if through contact alone the pieces would fuse to one another. Rae stood and walked to her dresser, gently setting the pieces down on the top of her dresser, and picking up one of the photo frames that had been knocked over. It was her favorite picture of her parents. She held it tight to her chest, as she walked back to the bed. She went to lie down next to Jackie, but stopped when she lay on the other things that Riddick had brought to the room. I forgot about this stuff_

Rae put Jackie's baby bottles, and the jug of water on the floor. Easier to reach them there. Rae grabbed the cookies, She really wasn't hungry, but she took one and put it in her mouth, and went and set the rest on the top of her dresser.

_As she climbed back onto the bed, she heard a familiar voice booming outside. _

"_Cap! Over here Sir! "Riddick!_

_Rae Lynn's eyes grew at the thought of what he said before he left If ANYONE comes through that door, shoot them, even if it's me. She grabbed the gun, not sure how to really use it but it made her feel safe while the other soldiers were this close._

"_I found the Lieutenant!" Riddick rolled the lieutenant over "Looks like he was shot Sir"_

_It sounded as if they were standing just a few feet away._

"_Thought these people had no weapons. Very well Private. Pick him up. Men! Let's get the hell out of here!" The Captain shouted_

_After a few minutes, Rae heard them leaving, so she figured it would be safe to take a quick peak out the window. Moving the shade just enough to look out the window with one eye, she watched at least a hundred soldiers marching away toward the docks._

_My god! Look at all of them!_

_A big hand slid over her mouth, muffling the scream, and an arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her back. She started clawing franticly at the hand and arm holding on to her._

"_Kid!" He said in a harsh whisper._

_Rae immediately stopped clawing at him, turned and threw her arms around his waist. Grabbing her shoulders, he pried her away from him._

"_Thought I told you to shoot anyone that comes through that door, even me," he whispered with a grin, knowing she could see him with the goggles. _

_She smiled back. I was right about that smile._

"_I left you something in a bag behind the house. Hopefully you can use it to get off this rock. Can't spare ya, and let you rot here alone."_

"_Sir, No matter what life has in store for you, please know that there are at least two people that know you are a good man." Rae cried softly. "Hurry you had better get back"_

_He nodded, looking a bit sad. " Kid… Stay out of the other bedroom. There ain't nothing good in there. And try to leave soon, the clean up crews and salvagers have been called. They'll be here in a few days." He turned and left._


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own Riddick or Jack or anything you may recognize from either the movies or books. But I do own those you don't.

REVIEWPLEASE! Constructive criticism is most definitely welcome. PLEASE!

**A/N: Thank you for visiting. Thanks to those that have replied. I live for the reviews. Not a whole lot happens in this chapter, sorry. But please stick with me.**

**Chapter 3.**

The alarm clock went off and Rae calmly rolled over to silence it. She never did fall back to sleep. Her mind raced with thoughts and memories of the past. She looked at the small child that slept next to her. She no longer doubted her abilities in raising Jackie, and she no longer had to worry whether or not she would be taken away now that she was 19.

Sliding her arm out from under Jackie's head, She sat up, and swung her legs over the edge of the mattress. "Jack."

"Mmmhhhaaaatttt?" she mumbled as she rolled over.

Wrestling Jackie awake was just an impossible feat on a normal morning let alone after a night like last night. _You sleep too much, girl, _Rae thought.

"Time to get up, kiddo."

"uhhhhhh-uhhhhhh."

Rae got up off the bed, and walked to the small sink, to wash her face and brush her teeth. Looking in the tiny mirror that she bought at the market a couple of month's back Rae stared at her reflection. Her green eyes, were blood shot, and there were dark circles around them from the lack of sleep. Her dark brown hair hung limply around her shoulders. _I want a nice hot shower. _And her skin, she was so pale; it was almost translucent. She couldn't remember the last time she sat in the sun. Working two jobs to save money to get off this shit planet, had definitely taken its toll.

"Let's go Jack. I am not playing your games today. Move." Rae kicked the mattress to emphasize her point.

" Okay, okay, okay." Jackie said pushing her self up on to her knees.

Jackie stood and walked to the cardboard box that was her dresser. It wasn't that they couldn't afford the furniture, there simple wasn't any room. She pulled on her school uniform, a plaid pleated skirt, and white button-down blouse they found at the thrift store. Digging further down for a pair of clean socks and finding none, Jackie groaned. "Uuurrrggghhh!'

"What's the matter?" Rae asked

"Where are my socks, Rae?"

"Check my box, I know I washed them. If they're not in there they can't be to far, this place ain't that big." Rae said. Tying her boots, she got up to help Jackie look. _Maybe she over looked them._

"Found 'em," Jackie said triumphantly, and sat down to finish getting ready.

* * *

Rae and Jackie stepped into the small bakery; the smell of fresh bread and pastries filled their noses. The man behind the counter smiled tenderly at Jackie and asked, "What will it be today, Miss. Jacquelyn?"

"Mmmmm….A croissant please, Mr. Treaudox," came her reply.

His balding head nodded at her response as he glanced at Rae, silently asking for her order as well. Rae shook her head no, and the tiny man shrugged. She watched him as he slowly limped over to the croissants, snatching one up and putting it in a bag. Rae and Jackie had been coming to this bakery since the day they landed five months ago. Jackie 'led' them here. Well, her nose and stomach did anyways.

"Thanks," Jackie said, taking and paying for the food.

Jackie turned and started out the door, not caring whether or not her sister was behind her, heading for their next daily stop, the newsstand. Rae preferred the newspaper to the vid-screens. She didn't care how archaic it seemed to others. Reading felt good, and she rarely got the chance any more. So, it was the one little pleasure she allowed herself.

"Mornin' li'l ladies. How are ya doin' taday?" The portly man asked as he reached for something under the counter.

"Pretty good Max. You?" Rae asked with a smile.

"No complaints…Here ya go Rae. Ya know, there are some men that aren't intimidated by a smart woman." He said with a wink. The man had been trying to set Rae up with his nephew since she met him.

"Thanks for the info, Max." she shook her head and chuckled a bit. "See ya tomorrow."

She knew she wasn't ugly, but she didn't think herself pretty, either. Men always stared at her, wherever she went. She didn't understand why. She didn't dress like most women. Usually sporting a plain t-shirt or sweatshirt, black cargo pants, and her work boots. Her hair always up in a tight ponytail, and never any make-up. To be honest, she didn't know the first thing about it, and frankly she didn't care.

"…..ae. Rae!" Jackie shouted, snapping Rae out of her thoughts. "Bye!"

Without realizing it, that they had made the 7 block walk to the school.

"Bye, remember, I'll pick you up from Mrs. Davis' at 6" she called out. She knew Jackie heard her from the dismissing wave Jackie gave as she skipped away.

Rae walked two blocks to the shuttle stop. Sitting on the bench to wait, Rae un-folded the paper, to check the prices of supplies that she knew they would have to order before they left at the end of the month. They had enough saved up to leave a month ago, but she wanted to wait until Jackie was out of school. _One of us should have an education_ she thought.

The small picture on the front page caught her eye, and she frowned. The picture showed a man shackled at the wrists and ankles, metal bit in his mouth, guards surrounding him as he shuffled. Her heart stopped and her mouth went dry as she read the caption under it. "Convicted murderer Richard B. Riddick arrived at Butcher Bay Maximum Security Slam early Monday morning to begin serving out his sentences."

"HOLY SHIT!" she shouted. The older woman that was sitting next to her, scooted down the bench and stared at her with a furrowed brow.

Her mind raced. _What? Who? Why? _She didn't know where to begin to find answers. _Maybe Thomas will know._ The shuttle pulled up, and she got on. She didn't remember the ride to the ports at all, or even getting off the shuttle.

* * *

An arm was thrown about her shoulders as she walked in the warehouse.

"Hey, Chickadee." The woman said with a smile, snapping Rae out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh hey Melissa."

"That's all I get, Huh? What's up with you? You okay?" Melissa asked, a frown on her face.

"Me? I'm fine. Just saw something in the paper. Kinda made me think a bit." Rae said softly.

"Stop that shit." Melissa said with a smile. "And by _that_ I mean readin' that damn paper. Just watch the vids like everyone else. It will 'desensitize' ya. Trust me. Hell, if I didn't know you and Jack better I'd swear you two lived under rocks." She was laughing now.

"Thanks Melissa." Rae said smiling at her friend. Melissa was the one that helped Rae get the job at the docks. It wasn't hard, load the ships, or unload the ships. The job was easier to do than it was to get the job. "Hey where's Thomas?"

"That ass Johns arrived late last night, all pissed off on how we "half-assed" stocked his ship when he was here last. Not like Thomas gives two shits, but he's taking the complaint down, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah."

Smiling Rae said "A'ight thanks I'll talk to ya later. Got shit to do." And she walked towards the locker room.

Melissa nodded and watched Rae walk away; she clearly had something more on her mind than she was letting on. _I'll get it out of her eventually_ Melissa thought.

After putting on her coveralls, Rae grabbed the only order yet to be filled. _Fuck_.

William Johns, All around prick, and Captain of Jaeger. _The man is… scum_. _Cocky, arrogant, self-centered, egotistical, sly._ Most of the mercenaries that Rae had come in contact with were. Only after the money, and never cared how they got their payday either.

A vision of Riddick popped in her head, him shuffling into the slam, surrounded by mercs and guards. She shuttered. _No matter what they say he'd done he had to have a reason. Right?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

"Sorry 'bout all this Bill. I'll look into what happened" Thomas Kincaid said shaking the mercenaries hand. _Fuckin' prick._

"Yeah, 'ppriciate that." Johns replied and left.

As Thomas sat at the small desk, he glanced down at the complaint he had taken from Billy Johns. The man was never happy, at least when he saw him. Crumpling up the complaint as he rose from the chair, he tossed it into the waste can, and walked out to see who was filling the mercs next order.

Rae was standing in front of the palates, checking them over. When she saw Thomas walk through the door.

"Hey Hoss. How ya doin'"

"Fine. Just got through havin a chat with our good friend Johns. That his order?" He asked pointing to the 10 palates of food, water, alcohol, clothes, med supplies, and various 'sources of entertainment.'

"Yeah. Really think a babysitter is necessary?" Rae asked teasingly.

"You know it little girl. Just make sure all of it gets in his ship so we can be rid of him ASAP." Thomas turned to leave.

Rae nodded. "Hey Thomas?"

"Yeah?" he asked over his shoulder.

"When our shifts over, can I talk to you?"

"O'course. What about?" Thomas asked with concern.

"Later, okay?"

"Sure" He nodded and left Rae to her work.

* * *

Rae was beat. That bastard Johns requested that the palates be unloaded and put away by the dock-hands. _God forbid his crew do the work. Hell, bet that's who fucked it up last time. _Rae thought as she put her uniform back in her locker. She grabbed the news paper and looked at Riddicks' picture. Time to talk to the all-mighty, all-knowing wizard, Thomas.

He was a good-looking man, about 5'10 in his early 50's. Light blue eyes, brown, almost black hair that was cropped very short to his head, and very fit. Rumor had it that he had been a Company Ranger not to long ago. He knew way to many things about the Company and how they did business, or didn't, that really brought Rae's attention to him. It made her wonder what he really did before becoming the dock foreman.

Rae stood waiting for Thomas, as he spoke with Johns again. _He better be fuckin' happy. A place for everything and everything in its place. _She noticed both men were smiling as they walked towards her.

"Billy, this is the dock-hand that stocked your ship. It's really her you should be thanking, not me. This is Rae"

Johns held out his hand, "Thanks. I'm…"

She really didn't want this man shaking her hand, but there was nothing she could do to avoid it. So she was kind enough to hold her hand out to meet his, not really putting any effort into the handshake.

"Billy 'Bad Ass' Johns, Yeah, I know who you are." Rae said cutting him off.

"No thanks are necessary. Just doin' my job Sir." Rae looked him straight in his beady eyes, cringing to herself at what she saw there.

"One hell of a job, too, I might add. Never seen my shipped stocked so efficiently. Goes to show you, that a woman's touch is priceless." He said with a sickening smile.

Rae thought she tasted bile in her mouth, but smiled back curtly. She cast a 'hurry-up' look towards Thomas before she excused herself from the two men.

* * *

Rae glanced at the time clock, 5:06. She told Jackie she'd pick her up at 6. _Hurry up Thomas. _She rolled the newspaper up and was tapping herself on her leg, trying to wait patiently.

Then as if on cue he opened his office door, and stood in the threshold, arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay, Rae. What's up with you? Melissa said you were kinda …'not all here' all day."

She stood and shoved the newspaper in her back pocket. Walking toward Thomas, he stepped back to allow her in the office, and shut the door behind them.

"Thomas, you watch the vid-news right?" She asked.

He just stared and nodded his head.

"What do you know about Richard Riddick?" She asked. She noticed Thomas clench his jaw with the mention of Riddick's name.

Relaxing his jaw he said. "What? Never heard of him? Heard he killed a shit load of his fellow soldiers. Was sentenced to a looooong time in slam. Real sick fuck."

Rae noticed that Thomas was no longer looking at her, but looking past her.

"What do you know about him?" She asked again, a little harsher than she wanted to.

Thomas looked at her with a raised brow. "No Rae, the question should be what do _you _know about him? Where did this morbid curiosity come from? Not attracted to a killer are you? Cause then I'd really be worried about you."

"Are you gonna tell me what you know or not? I know you know something. I watched your reaction when I said his name." Again, Thomas was no longer looking at her. "Look at me, please. You know him don't you? And not just as some story on the 5 o'clock. You know him," She proclaimed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Skabs: Thank you for dropping in, and don't worry I plan to.**

**Social control: Thank you. You reallylike the changes? **

**Please review. Doesn't have to be long. I just love to get reviews.**

**Chapter 5.**

_What do you think you're doing?_ She thought. She had no right to demand the information from him. She knew by his reaction alone there was something there, just bubbling under the surface. She needed to know what he knew about Riddick.

He sat there and rubbed his hand over his face, _Damn it Kincaid, you were trained to withstand torture. Why are you even considering telling her anything?_ He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a small glass.

"What time do you have to get Jackie?" he asked as he poured his drink.

"6, but I can ring Mrs. Davis and tell her I'll be later." She replied jumping to the comm-screen.

"Do that, and we'll have dinner." Then he slammed his drink.

The bar was dark, and stank like stale cigarettes, but Rae Lynn didn't care. Most of the patrons worked the docks, so it wasn't like she didn't know anyone else in there. Melissa saw her and waved. She quickly jumped off the bar stool and made her way over to the booth that Thomas had picked out. It was set in the back corner, with just a dim, almost burnt out light bulb above it.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doin' here?" Melissa asked giving the young woman a hug. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Just chattin' with Thomas. And I'm almost better, thanks Melissa" Rae said softly.

"Hey Melissa" Thomas interjected. "Rae and I need to have a little chat. We'll call ya back when we're done." He finished with a smile.

"Oh and here I thought you were here to relax, Rae. Sorry didn't mean to interrupt." She turned and walked back to the bar.

The waitress came and took their order as Rae and Thomas sat there studying each other. One hoping the other will back down and stop this foolish nonsense; The other trying to hold onto their nerve, and not stop at the foot of the first hurdle.

Thomas spoke first, and Rae Lynn let out a deep sigh.

"Why do you think I know him? What difference does it make anyway? You can't help him. Besides its time for him to pay the piper darlin'."

" I think you know him because your eyes and your jaw clearly said so when I mentioned his name. And it won't make a difference really. I know what he's capable of…Hell, I know first hand what all of you so called 'Company Men' are capable of," she said raising her voice, tears on the verge of spilling down her cheeks.

He set his blue eyes on her and sighed.

"And I know I can't help him, but I told him something once, a long time ago." She paused, remembering his face. "I still want to believe what I said. Is that so bad?" she started to cry. " I just want to believe."

Thomas reached for her hand and placed it in his, "Nothin' wrong with believing, child."

The waitress brought their food and she noticed Rae was crying, "Sugar? Are you okay? What the hell did you say to her Kincaid?" she said glaring at Thomas, hands on her hips.

Rae touched the woman's forearm and smiled softly trying to reassure her, "I'm okay. Really. He didn't do anything."

The woman looked back and forth between the two in the booth, "Alright but if it changes you just holler. Okay?"

"Yeah." Rae replied sniffling.

Rae glanced at the plate of food that was set in front of her. A burger. The blood that leaked down on to the bread implied that it had only a taken few steps away from the farm to make it on her plate. That thought kinda made her stomach turn. Rae gently shoved the plate away from her and watched Thomas.

He was shoveling his food in like it was his last meal. One arm circled around his plate, protecting it as he hovered above. She thought she heard him growl at one point as she waited for him to finish.

Finally done, he took a long pull on the bottle of beer that was brought with their food.

"I'm not sure where I should start, but I guess the beginning is a good place as any, huh?" he asked grinning at her.

"Sounds good to me." Rae smiled back.

"Well, I entered the Rangers when I was 20. Best thing I coulda done for myself at that point in my life. Learned a lot, saw a lot, did a lot. Some of it's worth repeating, some worth ignoring and some, well…some I just wish I never had to do. I retired about six years ago. I just couldn't do it anymore. Not physically, but mentally. We were getting orders for some really bad shit and I didn't want to do it anymore. Just…it just…I don't know…" Thomas stopped talking.

Watching him sit there and swirl the last swig of beer in his beer bottle, Rae knew that he was still trying to come to terms within himself, about what his history held. He looked defeated; His shoulders fell forward as he slouched. He rubbed his face, and sighed. Rae saw just how tired he really was at that moment and she regretted even making him think about the past let alone talk about it.

" I'm sorry Thomas." She didn't know what else to say to him.

He shook his head and smirked at her, "No, don't be sorry.

"You wanted to know about Rick. This is what I know about him. He was good. One of the best soldiers I ever had under my command. Never complained, did what he was ordered. There was this one assignment, it was a huge fuckin' deal. There were thousands of troops on this mission. They were deployed all over this little planet. Our mission was to eliminate everything simultaneously, one big sweep.." Thomas paused as Rae drew in a sharp breath.

"You okay?" he asked pausing.

Rae just nodded her head, unable to find her voice. Knowing that if she did in fact find it right then, she wasn't sure what kind of rage would have been unleashed.

"You said you wanted to know about Rick, so…I'm telling you. Don't chicken out on me now. This is the one mission I really remember."

"G..g..go ahead." It came out as a harsh whisper, "Please."

"Our orders were to move in at night, take them out. Nothing was to survive…"

"Why? What did they do?" Thomas barely heard her.

"Honestly, I really don't know. We were given orders, and we followed them. That was our job. We let the higher ups handle the specifics of why, while we handled the how." He continued as he watched her head fall to her chest, silently sobbing.

"It was sad really. These people had nothing in the way of defense, planetary or otherwise. It was just awful; I know I personally felt disgusted by what we had done, but I had orders…we eliminated an entire fucking planet of people, in three hours. The Company was happy; the people were gone, and there were very few casualties on our side.

"Rick's lieutenant, Wiffman, was one of those casualties. He carried him back to the ship, and after he set him down…" Thomas came back to the present realizing that Rae was all out crying now.

"Honey, what…" The crushed look in her eyes stopped him cold, a chill ran through his body and he shuttered.

"I fucked up," Thomas muttered.

Rae looked at him questioningly, "What? No, I…wanted…to…hear."

Softly he said, "That's not what I meant…It's why I remember Rick in all this. He kicked Wiffman, and looked at me and said 'I fucked up' He had felt guilty for getting the lieutenant killed."

That made Rae laugh. Not just a chuckle, but a full out roar. "It's not what he meant, Thomas."

Quirking his eyebrow, he couldn't believe her. What brashness.

"What? How do you know that?" he asked curiously.

"He fucked up and made the wrong decision. And I know because… Riddick and that stinky fucker, and even you Thomas… killed my parents, my friends. My home." She spat through her sobs.

He was confused. _How the hell?_ Now it was Thomas' turn to sit and listen to her story of Riddick.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6.**

Thomas Kincaid had no idea what he unleashed. As she told him the tale, he cringed and tried to dodge the intentional digs she threw at him regarding the 'unprovoked, unarmed, simple people'.

He understood the anger and resentment she held. As the missions continued to become more gruesome and blatantly unprovoked, the executions of men, women, and children became more and more of a constant, which affected many of his men. Many of them become withdrawn, and harder to control. He became disappointed and angry with everyone, but especially with himself.

The possibility of having to answer for thishad never crossed his mind. He could not wrap his brain around it, even though it was happening right here in the dark corner of a bar, on a little shit planet.

Rae ended her tale, her green eyes, burrowing into Thomas's head. He thought about what he should say to her. He knew that condolences and apologies would never be enough. There was nothing he could say that could cover all that he felt. He sort of understood her stand about Riddick, their 'knight in army fatigues'.What he had done was one of the best things that came out of all that destruction.

Rae's body shook with rage as she waited for the older man to say something in response.

Finally he spoke.

"I know sorry won't help, but I want you to know that I am. And I will apologize every time I see you if that is what you want… To be honest with you, I never anticipated **ever** having to answer to anyone but my self for what we had done. But here I Am." He paused.

"What Riddick did for you and Jackie? … It's definitely worth something. I'm glad you had that to hold on to. Had something to believe in. But just because he showed a little bit of compassion once, doesn't mean that he didn't do what he was convicted of. He killed 150 men, Rae. That's not something a rational man would do.

"That mission… Your home, was the just the beginning of a whole lotta shit. You have no idea whatmany of usfelt every time we got new orders... Before I retired, many of my men had breakdowns. Went completely nuts, totally unable to function. Some eventually retired. Others just turned them selves off. They cut themselves off from everything that made them … _feel_ anything. I think that is what Rick did.Turned off his ability to feel, Rae.

"I tried to do that at first. But the guilt just ate away at me. Still does. I'm _so_ sorry for what happened. Not a day goes by that I don't think of it. Not _one_ day. And now, knowing what I've done has had so much of an impact... That's a new thought that will live in my mind."

Rae's pulse had slowed as she sat and listened to Thomas. The wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and on his forehead were evidence of a man who had seen a lot. It felt goog to learn thatshe and Jackie weren't the only ones that had nearly been destroyed because of that night. But it was the fact that she had over seven years of frustration pumping through her veins. She just didn't know what to do now that there was another face connected to it all, and a chance for her to vent.

His eyes were soft and tender as he took her hand in his.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness, nor do I expect it. Please don't think you need to forgive me, or any of us. Just try to understand, that it was our job."

Rae smirked and shook her head. "It was your job…" she repeated mumbling.

"Ya know. I understand what it is you're saying. And I too never thought I'd be face to face with anyone from that night. I'm older and I understand things a little better. Maybe I am holding on to a dream, that he is a good man. But that dream has gotten me through the hardest things I've ever had to face.

"Part of me wants to apologize for some of the things I said to you. But we both know that can't happen and I wouldn't really mean any of it. There's a lot of anger. Anger I never aimed at Riddick. I should have, but I couldn't. He had redeemedhimself in my eyes, for doing what he did for us." Rae looked at Thomas, completely spent of explanations.

They sat quiet, both lost in their own thoughts, when Rae caught a glimpse of the clock.

"Shit. It's almost 10. Mrs. Davis is gonna kick my ass."

As she stood to leave, she looked at Thomas. Not really sure of what to say.

"See ya tomorrow, Thomas," was what came out.

"Yeah. Night Rae."

* * *

Melissa sat at the bar. She had switched from alcohol to coffee a while ago. Melissa noted at one point Rae had stopped crying, and became enraged; her face a deep scarlet. _What the hell are they talking about?_ She had made it a point to find out earlier when Louise, the waitress, came back in a huff, muttering something about the 'rotten bastard' as she shook her head in disgust.

Seeing Rae get up to leave, Melissa took one more sip of her coffee and said her goodbyes as she followed Rae out the door. Melissa was the first person Rae met on Litre. She was taller that the average woman, slender, with brown hair and eyes. And she was only five years older than Rae. She was the closest thing to a friend that Rae ever had. Normally, Rae would go to her with her problems and questions. Melissa had to admit that she was a tad bit jealous of Thomas, when it was apparent that Rae was confiding in him instead. _Getting rather emotional too. _She thought cruelly.

"Rae wait up!" Melissa yelled.

"I gotta go pick up Jackie, Melissa and I'm already late." She apologized to her friend.

"Let me give you a lift. You really shouldn't walk by yourself this late. Not in this part of town."

"No thanks Melissa, I got some things to think about and I want to do it before I see Jackie." Rae said, hoping she didn't push her friend away to far. "I'll be okay, really."

Melissa slowly nodded her head, disappointment clearly written on her face.

"I'm sorry. I got some news about an old friend today, and I'm trying to sort it all out. What he meant to me, what if anything he still means to me. I need to figure it out."

"Is that what you and Thomas were talking about?" the hurt in her voice evident.

Rae just nodded. "He knew him too. I'm sorry Melissa. I really need to go. I'll see ya tomorrow."

Rae turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Melissa with more questions. Questions she wanted Thomas to answer. When Melissa entered the bar again, Thomas was gone. _Damn it where the hell did he go?_

* * *

Rae's mind became flooded with thoughts of "her" Riddick, and the One she was slowly learning about. It's not like she knew him for years and this had came as a complete shock. But it was a shock, because of the pedestal she put him on. For seven and a half years, she had made this man, this obvious killing machine, _150 men,_ out as her and Jackie's "knight in army fatigues." as Jackie referred to him as. And in a way he was, and probably would always be in some way, but the truth was, he was a killer. That was what he was when she met him, a fact she always seemed to forget. And that's apparently what he continued to be when he left.

As Rae walked, the business of the dim streets grew silent, except for a few transports that whisked up and down the streets. _Maybe I should have taken that ride from Melissa. _

She didn't know what she was going to tell Jackie.

If anything, Jackie was more infatuated with the idea of Riddick 'our savior' than Rae ever could be. And it was because of Rae that she thought that way. When Jackie was just a toddler, Rae would tell her bedtime stories, like their father did for her. They were stories from Old Earth. If there was a knight, or a prince, or some other big strong figure that saved the day, Jackie would demand that Rae used Riddicks name in the stories as the hero. When Riddick saved the day, or the princess, Jackie would shout, "Never had a doubt. Never." With the biggest smile on her face.

Rae shook her head and smiled at the memory and the innocence of her baby sister. _Wish it were still that easy to believe kid. _She knew this news was going to devastate Jackie.

As she approached their building, Rae still was not sure what to tell Jackie. But she knew if she didn't tell her, and tell her soon, there was going to be trouble.

As Rae was set to knock on Mrs. Davis' door, It started to open and Rae heard, "Bout time, where have you been? I've got soooo much to tell you. Why are you so late? Have you watched the vid-news?….." _Take a breath kid, you'll pass out._ Rae thought

Rae looked at Mrs. Davis and mouthed the words "Sorry, Thank you"

The kind woman just smiled and said, Her thick drawl just loud enough for Rae to here over Jackie's incessant babbling. "She super woun'. Girl been playin' 'round. Talkin' 'bout knowin' dat Riddick man awwwl nigh'.. I tol' her no mo'e vids. Goo' luck to ya ,sweets. Nigh' Jackie."

Rae was amazed at the rate of speed Jackie spit the questions out with. She wasn't sure where to start, or how she was going to get Jackie to understand. What she was sure about was that she didn't want to do it tonight.

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers**

**skabs: Gotta love him,the sentimental manthat he is. Thanks for reviewing.**

**milsa: Welcome. And thank you. Believe it or not, this story started as a dream I had one night, and just grew... Glad you like it.**

**Social control : Thank you. I'm so glad that you like it.**

**crematoriacon : She starts off gentle...muahahahaha**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7.**

Thomas stepped out of the back door of the bar and took a deep breathe of the cool night air. The usual blackness behind the bar was erased by the intensity of the stars that shown above. He looked up into the clear sky. It was a rare thing to see the stars at night; the heavy smog usually clung to the atmosphere. But he already knew today was no ordinary day.

As he walked to his transport, he heard Melissa and Rae talking. What were the odds – the only women on his shift and both had connections to his past, well, to one person in particular. Funny thing was, they each had very different opinions regarding that man.

Why they both thought to talk to him, he didn't know. It wasn't like he had spoken to anyone about his past before today. And he had to admit he was more open with Rae than he was with Melissa. Rae apparently was more aware of what it was the Rangers really did.

These two women were alike, yet so very different from one another. Both were strong and independent. They were smart and beautiful, each in their own right. But one was bitter, and could be hateful when she wanted to be. She was sometimes rather cruel, and callous and would start fights just to make herself feel better. The other was kind and loving, always looking for the good in people, but was not afraid to stand up for herself and what she believed. Now he understood where that quality stemmed from, Riddick.

Before today, Thomas really didn't understand why Melissa had been testier the past few months; her moods switching in a heartbeat. A couple of months ago, Melissa received a comm from her mother. Her brother, Jeff, the angel and baby of the family, had been killed in action. Weeks later, the news broke about Riddick and his actions.

_Standing on the dock, Rae was checking the roster for the missing palates that she needed to fill her order. This day was chock full of fuck ups. When that happened, the days would drag on because the mistakes could just snowball. Sometimes they became avalanches, where you're lucky to be alive when it was over._

_"Fuck!" _

_Running through the dock doors, Rae stopped as a coffee cup flew past her head, just missing her. Rae watched it land on the concrete just out side the door and shatter. _

_"Melissa, what the hell? Ya wanna watch where you toss your coffee out. What the fuck is wrong with you?" _

_Melissa glared at her. "Nothing."_

_Rae shook her head. She figured it had to do with her brother; a stray bullet killed him during a raid on some city. Rae felt for the woman. She listened and comforted her friend when she received the news. Though it frightened Rae that she recovered from the hurt faster than she would have thought healthy._

_As Rae turned around, there was another object, a clipboard, flung through the air. Hitting the wall to the right of where Rae had been standing._

_"Are you trying to hit me?" Rae asked marching towards Melissa. "Here let me make it easier on you. There now you shouldn't miss." Rae said as she stopped. She now stood a foot away from Melissa. _

_"Leave Rae. I don't want to hurt you." Melissa growled through her teeth._

_"Coulda fuckin' fooled me. That clipboard was the second thing you threw in my direction. Get your temper in check, girl. Cause I'm not gonna deal with you like this."_

_Melissa and Rae stared each other down for almost twenty minutes. Neither moved. Neither wanting to back down. Finally, Melissa turned and walked away, Her head hanging as she walked into the locker room. An echo of a locker being punched rang through the now quiet warehouse._

_Everyone in the vicinity heard a muffled 'god damn it'. _

_Rae sauntered into the locker room. Picked her friend up off the floor by the shirt, and started to haul her off to the med center. Rae shook her head in disappointment. Melissa was the only other person she knew that was more fucked up then her. Rae never asked Melissa 'why the out burst'. In fact, Rae didn't really care. She had a pretty good idea._

Thomas started his transport and headed for home. He let out a heavy sigh; _Work should be interesting tomorrow._

* * *

Rae stood at the foot of the mattress, her hands on her hips, head hung in exhaustion. 

"No, he saved us. How after all this time can you say those things about him?" Jackie spat through her tears.

"You are always the one that says 'not everything is what it seems', Rae. You say 'listen to your heart'. Well, ya know what? I am. Yeah, he's dangerous, and mean but… What about what you told him?"

Rae realized that Jackie's mind was working at warp speed, bouncing from one thought to another, trying to process everything. Trying to figure out her own feelings. Rae's attention snapped back to Jackie when she stopped talking. They stared at one another.

Jackie stood in her nightshirt, an oversized sweatshirt of Rae's. Her eyes red and swollen from crying, her cheeks flush with anger. Rae watched as she clenched and unclenched her small hands. "You never lie Rae, Never. And you keep your word. Why are you not gonna keep it this time?"

Rae couldn't answer Jackie. She herself still didn't understand how she really felt about it all. It was true that Rae prided herself on her word. When she had told Riddick that she believed he was a good man, she meant it. Question was, did she still?

* * *

As Jackie lay down, she felt lost, confused and angry. Many thoughts of the big man she saw on the vid-news ran through her head. He was just as Rae described him, tall, bald, and intimidating. She smiled to herself. 

She had read up on Butcher Bay when Mrs. Davis let her on the computer. _I may be young but I'm smarter than most._ She found that it was a triple maximum-security prison. No one had ever escaped from Butcher Bay. Very few were lucky to even serve out their entire sentence without dying or losing their minds. It was easier for the Company to sentence men there, than to kill them by capital punishment. They found the public didn't find it as offensive, that those that died in slam got what they deserved.

Jackie closed her eyes and thought of Riddick. She imagined herself meeting him and how he would open his big arms to her and she would thank him for saving her from uncertain death… She smiled weakly as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Melissa sat in the locker room of the port office. She was watching the morning vid-news, when Rae walked in, unusually early. Quickly turning of the vid-screen, she wiped off the scowl that she knew had been plastered on her face. 

Rae smiled kindly at her friend. "Morning Melissa. Hey, sorry bout last night. Just had a lot on my mind. Hell, I still do."

Melissa just nodded and gave a small smile so the younger woman knew she had acknowledged her presence.

"Hey I'm working at the diner tonight, maybe you can stop in and I'll buy you dinner, we'll talk. Got a lot to tell you." Rae said walking towards the docking doors.

Melissa perked up at Rae's offer. "What were you and Thomas talking about last night?" Melissa asked curiously as she followed Rae. "You were crying and angry… I don't think I've ever seen you like that."

"Someone we both knew once…" Rae said over her shoulder. She didn't want to get into this right now.

The large docking doors started to rise. It was Tuesday. Which meant the produce shipment was in. Rae loved Tuesdays and requested that she get the job to unload the ship. It was total backbreaking grunt work and she loved it. Plus it was the one shipment that everyone else avoided like a plague. Some one had to do it.

It was her secret as to why she requested this particular job. It reminded her of home, of her parents. The smell of dirt, thick and musty. The collage of colors. The memories always came rushing back to her, some more detailed than others, but memories nonetheless. And she relished in them.

She had forgotten all about Melissa the moment the ship was in sight. So she never noticed the woman's infuriated stare as she walked away…

Melissa turned and walked back into the warehouse. She couldn't believe she had been snubbed again. She couldn't believe how angry the whole situation made her. Rae and Jackie practically idolized this man. _How? Why?_

_Aweek ago, Melissa had gone to Parkers Diner. Rae had been working there two nights a week for the past three months, and asked if Melissa would come and keep Jackie company during the dinner rush. Melissa was more than happy to do just that. She adored the little girl. 'She's got spunk.' Melissa said. _

_They were sitting in the booth thumb wrestling. Melissa allowed Jackie to win repeatedly, when they heard the men in the booth behind them mention Richard B. Riddick. Both girls froze, neither one noticing the others reaction. _

_Jackie spoke first, her voice a bit shaky, "Hey Lissa? Can I have some pie?"_

"_Sure, sweetie. Just have to get your dear sisters attention." She answered with a smile, while trying to catch Rae's attention._

"_Melissa, were you listening to those men?" Jackie asked, as she reached into her cup for an ice cube._

"_No, should I have been?"_

"_They were talking about someone. They said that he was a killer…" She trailed off. Her vision focused on the table, but she was clearly somewhere other than the diner. "He's not a bad man." She whispered. Melissa was just able to hear her small voice. _

_When Rae made her way to the booth where Jackie and Melissa sat, she came baring two slices of peach cobbler. Setting the plates on the table, she tucked the stray hairs that had fallen, behind her ears and smiled at her sister and friend._

_She cut the smile short when she sensed uneasiness between them. _

"_I gotta get going guys." Melissa announced, causing Rae to jump in surprise. "Rae, is it okay if I scoot a little early? Gotta few things I forgot to do."_

"_Uhh… Sure. Rush is pretty much over. Jackie, hun, why don't you start getting your stuff together? You can sit up at the counter by me. 'Kay?"_

_Jackie gathered her things, knowing she really had no choice in the matter. As she slid off the bench, she looked at Melissa with a steely gaze. One that made Melissa shudder._

* * *

Two months I've survived in this hell. Got a couple lifetimes to go. At least that's what they say. Thing is, I won't be here for much longer. 

They say I'm a monster; that I'm an animal. They have no idea just how right they are…

**Thanks to my reviewers Jordayna and Social control. More Riddick coming soon...**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well, really sorry about the wait. RL really can grab a hold of you. Had a bit of falling out with my beta, so please let me know what you think. This is kinda long. (This and chapter 9 were written as one, I divided it because of the length.) I hope you all like it. **

**I do not own Riddick or Jack; I do own Rae, Melissa, and Thomas.**

**Please review. Again this has not been beta-d. Please be honest. If need be - rip me to shreds.**

**To my reviewers:**

**ElleloveMax85 Thank you and welcome. hugs**

**Social Control: Thanks for stopping by. Hope you like the next two chapters.**

**Jordayna: Thank you. Sorry it took so long to get this out.**

**Skabs: Hey! Well here's your answer I hope you like it.**

**Chapter 8.**

The winds had picked up out of the north, giving motion to the hot, sticky, and stagnant air. Setting the last crate of the dark, dirt covered vegetables down on the palate; she slowly straightened her sore and aching body. Bringing her hands around and kneading her lower back, she eyed the vessel that had been tucked in the back. The charcoal gray ship took up nearly the rear half of the large hanger.

Pulling her bandanna out of her pocket, she wiped at the sweat that ran down her temples, neck, and chest. The sight of The Arisen made Rae Lynn grin. Remembering that first rush of adrenalin that made her want to learn everything she could about flying, so that she wouldn't kill them but also because she felt so free at the controls. It was as if she were untouchable.

Walking alongside the ship, she slid her hand along the smooth exterior, leaving a trail amongst the thin layer of dust that had settled upon its surface. Her hands slowly traced the white reflective lettering that was painted on the hull. The Arisen. How she missed the confines of its thick metal shell as it flew through space. She closed her eyes, picturing the sights of the stars in the distance, so close yet still so far away. Remembering the feel of the weight, as it would settle onto her chest when they would star jump. The slight shuffling of feet made her open her eyes and glance over her shoulder. There stood a very brooding Melissa.

Acting as if she hadn't noticed the woman's tension, Rae continued to glide her fingertips over the outer surface of the ship towards the keypad that would unlock and lower the ramp. Quickly punching in a code there was a click and a light but drawn-out hiss as the ramp slowly began to come down.

Taking a quick glance at Melissa, Rae started up the ramp before it finished descending.

"Lights, full." Rae announced. The lights had barely begun to flicker to life as she climbed the stairs.

Once the ramp reached the ground, Melissa slowly followed Rae onto the ship. She had to admit it was one the nicer cargo ships she had seen come to Litre. It was old, but was very well taken care of.

After climbing the stairwell, and walking the main corridor, it quickly opened up into the largest living-galley area Melissa had ever seen. Looking around she counted six doors, three to the left, two on the right, with the last directly in front of her. A full-size kitchen was also to the right. A table lined with six chairs was bolted off to the right. There was a large vid-screen on the wall to the left between two of the doors with shelves full of books and vids from Old Earth, and cases with little trinkets and picture frames upon the walls around the rest of the room. A large half-circle couch faced the vid-screen as if dividing the room in half, with a coffee table in front of it.Turning in her spot Melissa stood in wonderment of this ship and its contents.

The door directly in front of her slid open silently, and Rae emerged carrying a green case. She nodded once at Melissa, to both acknowledge her presence and ask her to sit on the couch. Melissa was a little apprehensive at first, but soon found her herself sitting on the edge of the worn couch cushions.

"Nice ship. Why the hell do you and Jackie live in that shit hole of an apartment, when you can stay here? This thing is huge." Melissa asked puzzled. She stood to have a better look at the ship.

Rae chuckled, setting the case on the floor by her feet, "I ask my self that every night. The things I do for my sister, I guess. She wanted to live like everyone else. That and she wanted to live somewhere that couldn't leave the ground, considering she's never lived anywhere other than this ship before."

Nodding understandingly and turning slowly to face Rae, Melissa figured now was the time. Time to know what it was the Rae was hiding. Clearing her throat, Melissa asked, "You remember when I punched that locker couple weeks ago?"

She slowly inspected her hand. Though the evidence was gone, she remembered how she had broken three of the bones on her hand and dislocated one of her fingers with that punch. _Seemed like a good thing to do at the time._ Turned out not to be one of the smartest things Melissa had ever done.

"Yeah. How could I forget? You tried to take me out with a cup and a clipboard." Rae said over her shoulder as she walked in the galley to the fridge unit and pulled some water out for the both of them.

"You wanna know what it was about? You never did ask. And I know I never did tell."

"I assumed it had something to do with Jeff." She stated walking back towards the couch.

Sadness flashed in Melissa's eyes at the mention of her brother Jeff. Slightly smirking at Rae she said, "You know me, don't ask-don't tell. But there's been something bothering me about it."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"You ever hear of a guy named Richard Riddick?" She asked, watching Rae closely

Rae let out a heavy sigh then cleared her throat. "Yeah actually I have. Read about him in the papers recently, and… " She was cut off by a frustrated Melissa.

"Just wondering if that's who you where chatting with Thomas about last night. I mean 'cause I know that Thomas knew him. Found that out yesterday. See I had a little heart to heart with him too, regarding 'Captain Riddick'." She spat sarcastically. "Turns out Thomas was his captain few years back… But I think you already knew that, huh?" Melissa rose off the couch and grabbed the bottle Rae held loosely in her hands.

"What the hell are you getting at? … Yeah I knew him, It was a long time ago." She stood firm and meet Melissa's gaze. The woman's nose flared and her jaw tensed.

Melissa stood there waiting for an explanation, but even she knew there would be none: at least not yet. She knew Rae was smart, _Won't show her hand 'til all bets are on the table._

"Yeah well you're assumption about the locker thing being about Jeff? You were right. You remember what I had told you about how Jeff died?" Melissa asked, turning and walking toward the shelves, staring at them, but not really seeing them.

Rae nodded mostly to herself, "Stray bullet, wasn't it?" She said curtly, as she ran her hand through her hair and sat down heavily on the couch. Relieved that both of them were able to hold their tempers for now.

Melissa chuckled, and hung her head. "My brother was one of Riddicks soldiers. The bastard slit my brothers throat as he slept. Super nice guy, huh?"

Rae frowned, _explains the diner_. Jackie had told Rae what had happened. "Yeah" Rae agreed to Melissa sarcasm.

"Then you wanna explain to me why it is that your baby sister defends him? Says he's 'not a bad man'. Granted I know she's only seven, but it seems crazy to me that a child that age, after hearing what he's done, can think that of man like him?"

"You think I had something to do with what she said?" Rae asked defensively, again standing toe to toe with Melissa. _You did, _she thought silently. Shaking the thought from her head, she stood thinking of how she should answer. She felt bad that Melissa's brother died, apparently at the hands of Riddick. How could she tell her that Riddick saved their lives? How is she gonna react? _Shit, this could get really ugly. _She ran the palm of her hand lightly over the hilt of her knife that rested upon her hip as a reassurance.

Melissa watched Rae in silence; she noticed that the young woman's actions were deliberate and purposeful as she slowly knelt down at the coffee table

Rae set the case on the table in front of her and dug into her pocket pulling out a key ring with only one key on it. She had bought the case many years ago when Jackie learned to walk. She was afraid that Jackie would hurt herself. Rae drew in a deep breath and held it when she unlocked the case and saw the contents that it contained. There lay the weapons that were given to her to not only protect them but also, as she saw it, to give her the strength to continue. She had realized that they also helped her keep her sanity, which is another reason she bought the case – to protect the weapons themselves. It had been a long time since she had looked at them, but given her thoughts the past few days, she knew it was only a matter of time before she brought them out.

Slowly she ran her hands over the gun and the handkerchief covered goggles and even over the empty space where she would normally have kept her knife that Riddick had left in the satchel. She smiled warmly before she removed the gun from the snug foam mold that held it in place. After sliding the clip out of the case and into the gun, loading it., she laid it on the table. Melissa glared at Rae unsure of her intensions. Rae smirked inwardly at Melissa's more than apparent threatened reaction. Rae then pulled out and removed the black handkerchief that covered the night vision goggles, setting them down next to the gun. Closing the case, Rae set it on the floor and rocked back to sit on her butt, crossing her legs in front of her.

Rae sat playing with her pants leg as she started to speak soft and low. "When I was 12 and Jackie was only a week old, Riddick and hundreds of Company Rangers invaded the small planet that we lived on. Riddick and His lieutenant had broken into our home and killed our parents. He was given an order to shoot me, and leave Jackie alive to die a slow death because I laughed at the lieutenant." She paused; wondering how many more times was she going to have to tell this story. "And instead of killing me he killed the lieutenant. He saved me… to save Jackie. I told him, and this is where I'm having trouble understanding what it is he has done, I told him that we would always know he was a good man.' Rae lowered her head again feeling the strong gaze of the woman in front of her. Feeling defeated she huffed, "He probably doesn't even remember what he did for us. But I know I will never forget."

The hatred that Melissa had for Riddick still thrived and was steadily growing within her. She knew she had to at least acknowledge where it was that Rae and Jackie were coming from. _What good the devil had done in his past though, had relatively no weight with what he has done in the present._

Rae saw that her story had done nothing to ebb the woman's hatred and anger. She really didn't think that it would have made much of an impact on Melissa's feelings, and honestly she didn't blame her. There was no act of kindness to counteract the cruelty. No good came from his actions on that day. Slowly Rae picked up the gun that lay on the table in front of them and run her hands down the barrel, caressing it as if it were a lover, lost in her thoughts.

Melissa cleared her throat and looked around the living-galley her eyes stopping on the goggles and the gun in Rae's hand.

With a small smile of remembrance on her face, Rae began again, "He gave me his gun and these goggles, and... " Sliding the knife from its sheath on her hip and glancing at her self in the polished metal. "This knife."

Melissa gasped. This knife that Rae had, could have been the knife the enforcers had announced as evidence at Riddicks' trial. It was about 6 inches in length from the tip to the hilt. It had thick leather that covered its three-inch long handle, and the slightly curved blade was well kept and she guessed extremely sharp.

"He had left me with just the goggles and gun at first, but the rangers had come back for the body of the lieutenant. He came back in the house and told me he found a way off of Appi for us, and to warn me about the salvagers and clean up crews the company uses to cover up things like that. The next morning, I found a satchel in back of our house with hundreds of credit chips, this knife and a note telling me about The Arisen.

"It, surprisingly enough, hadn't been ransacked too badly. And I somehow managed to understand the manual enough to fly it off of Appi and land on Damis. But not without incident, I bumped into this monster-sized frigate, didn't cause any real damage thank god. They were some scary people that ran that ship." Rae Shuddered with the thought of the pale soldiers. "We stayed on Damis long enough to refuel, re-stock and move on. We stayed on most planets long enough to make enough credits to pay for our supplies and fuel. I didn't like to stay in one place to long; to many people would start asking questions about our parents. And I would get paranoid that they would take Jackie from me. So we would stay in space, flying to nowhere in particular, or anywhere we wanted.

"Over the years I taught Jackie every thing that I could about flying. Trust me I got a lot better. When we landed here, Jackie asked about school, and I figured that since I didn't have to worry about anyone taking her from me, and I could only teach her what it was that I knew, I figured we could stay a little while. I think Litre is the only place we've stayed for more than a few weeks."

There was a long silence between them when Rae spoke. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry Jeff died like that. You can't possibly know just how sorry I feel about all of this."

Melissa shook her head, "Don't Rae. Don't beat yourself up. I'm not sorry I asked, don't you be sorry for telling."

There was another long pause. Melissa was the one to break the silence this time, "Have you guys ever been back to Appi?"

Rae shook her head as she drew her legs to her chest and rested her arms on her knees, "No. It's now a mining planet for the Company; they have their own communities and such there now. Thought about it a couple of times, but no. It would be like testing fate. Not really into doing that any time soon. I've got enough of my own history slapping me in the face these days."

The sound of heavy footsteps on the ramp, and then the stairs made Rae grab hold of the gun and rise to her knees. Every muscle in her body was tense and rigid.

"Rae! Melissa! Are you guys…" Thomas' voice trailed off as he made his way through the ship and found them both in the living area. Heaving a sigh of relief, he smiled warmly at both women. Thankful they hadn't killed each other.

"Thomas" Rae said as she released the breath that she had been holding. Relaxing, she ejected the clip out of the gun and went to put it back it its case.

"What do you have there?" Thomas asked unable to keep his curiosity from getting the better of him.

Rae smiled, but it was Melissa that answered. "I would say they were souvenirs. But useful souvenirs, not like those damn figurines you bring back from your vacations."

"They're statues, I'll have you know." He said as he waved his figure at Melissa, but quickly looking back at Rae. He looked at the night vision goggles as she rewrapped them in the handkerchief. Then spotted the knife on the table.

"Where'd you get the shiv, darlin'?" Rae looked at Thomas questioningly. "This." He said as he lifted it carefully from the table. "It's called a shiv. We were taught how to make them from practically anything, bone, rock, scrap metal. This is a very good one. Light. Durable." His lips curled into a small smile, his eyes almost glazing over as he flipped the shiv in the air, seized the handle and cut the air in front of him with a few flicks of his wrist.

Gently slicing the hair on his forearm with the edge of the blade, he continued, "And well kept I must say, clean and sharp. He give this to you?" he asked, his gaze shifting from one woman to the other hoping not to offend either for the further intrusion into their previously private conversation.

Rae nodded. She continued to pack the items into the case. She took the shiv from Thomas as he handed it back to her and placed it back upon her hip. She locked the case and stood to return the case back to the pilot room.

Melissa rose from the couch and stood at its foot as she looked at Rae. "Listen, I understand why you feel the way you do, Rae. Really I do. And hell, I can even respect that, but just know that there is really no way for me not to hate him. What he did…Let's just…" she trailed off; Her mind clearly racing.

"Agree to disagree?" Rae asked with a smirk.

"Sure, let's do that." Melissa said flatly, then turned and headed out of 'the Arisen'.

Thomas stood stunned. He really had anticipated there being at the very least a few thrown punches, but nothing. He found the lack of violence more disturbing then if they had pummeled one another.

Rae sensed Thomas' uneasiness regarding the situation, "Don't worry. Won't be turning my back on her anytime in the future." The door to the pilot room slid open silently, and Rae disappeared behind it as it slid shut.

Thomas' gut flipped as Rae made the comment, but knew she was right. The woman was a time bomb. The answer she gave Rae was all the evidence that was needed to prove it.


	9. Chapter 9

I sadly own nothing from PB, COR, or Escape from BB. This next part helps me get to where need to be. Please Review. Shred me if I need it please.

**Chapter 9.**

Dropping into the ship, he didn't anticipate Johns to be sitting in the pilots seat. Standing tall, appearing unaffected by this new development, he found a way to make the best of the situation.

"How's the back," he mumbled not really caring to hear the answer.

"Been better. Takin' you to another slam, Riddick. Getting out of Butcher Bay together. That'll teach Hoxie to Fuck with me."

"Now you're learnin' Johns."

"I even stiffed him on the med fees. Hey, you know the drill." Johns said slightly raising the weapon in his hand to signal the holding cell he had prepped for Riddick.

Stepping forward, Riddick grabbed Johns by his hair. Thrusting his shiv into the mercs back. Cutting him for the second time, in nearly the same spot. Shoving the hunched man to the floor he stepped to the controls. He sat in the chair strapping himself in

"Let's play who's the better killer" Grabbing the controls, he took off flying the ship towards the atmosphere, as the guards continued to fire upon the ship and its passengers.

Sitting at his desk the warden, thought over how much trouble Riddick had been since he had gotten here only a month ago. "Definitely not worth the trouble or the manpower that has been lost. Never should have agreed to take him off Johns' hands." Who would have thought that one man could cause so much damage in a place with no rules, no escape. Brought back to the present by the rumbling of an engine Looking up from his desk. The ship barreled through the wall, causing Hoxie to fell under his desk for refuge.

Slowly the convict emerged with the body of Johns thrown over his shoulder. Riddick strolled slowly towards Hoxie's desk "Guess you wanted Johns dead… not alive"

"Riddick!" Hoxie said in astonishment.

Dropping the mercs body on the floor, and kicking him to roll him over, "What'll you give me for him anyway Hoxie?" He said lowly as he walked towards the warden.

Starting to stutter knowing he no longer had the upper hand with Riddick. "We work a deal Riddick… Johns for you… Straight up. Anything. Anything. Just tell me what you want, and… I'll make it happen." He said as he backed towards his chair.

"Hmmm…" he growled. "I wanted to be left alone."

"Let me give you some advice, Riddick. When you make a threat, Riddick, be prepared to back it up. I'll give you… alone" Sitting in his chair, Hoxie pushed a button. He and his chair ascended a ramp to a small room high above the door to his office.

Grabbing Johns' pulse gun as the first shot went past his head, he ducked down behind Hoxie's desk, and began to charge the weapon. As soon as it was charged he began firing on the robotic guard that Hoxie had released upon him. Slowly, shot after shot began to take their effects upon the robot. Advancing on the robot making the shots more precise, the robot began to fall, and eventually collapsing in a heap of twisted metal.

Dropping his own weapon Riddick moved to the robot, grabbing its cannon arm, he fired it at the room that secured Hoxie, causing him to fall the 15 feet to the floor below.

"But… now… Riddick. There must be something…" Hoxie pleaded

"Codes to your ship."

"Shit Riddick, you wouldn't…"

"What? What wouldn't I do Hoxie?" He stepped closer to the warden as he begged.

"Oh… oh... of course. The codes are in my desk."

Standing up behind the warden, Johns grunted in pain.

"Can you walk Johns?" Riddick asked

Chuckling Johns replied, "Yeah, I think so."

"Run?"

Laughing again, "Maybe… but I wouldn't want to try and find out.' He bent forward still trying to remove the stiffness and ignore the pain within his body.

"Good how's your eyesight?"

Grabbing one of the dead guards uniforms, while Johns tied Hoxie up to the pillar, Riddick shot out the lights. Slowly he removed his goggles and slid them over Hoxie's head as he struggled to plead through the gag for his life.

"Not this time, Hoxie" Riddick said just before he punched the warden.

Sliding the guard helmet on, Riddick looked at Johns. He grunted in disgust, not really wanting to put his life in the mercs hands at this stage of the game. But he had no choice, if this plan was going to work.

Digging through Hoxie's desk for the codes, Johns declared, "Hurry the fuck up Riddick. Lets get the fuck outta here."

Grabbing the guards' weapon, and shoving Johns slightly in front of him; they stepped out of the wardens' office, and began walking the corridor. The heavy footsteps of the oncoming guards rang through the empty hall. Both Riddick and Johns tensed as they approached; ready to strike out if they needed to.

As the guards shuffled past, one guard declared "The birds in the wardens office. We have a hostage situation. Riddick's the one wearing the goggles. Kill him… on site."

Taped and bound to the pillar, Hoxie moaned as he struggle to free himself before his men reached the office doors. Knowing with the dark, they wouldn't be able to see clearly. They would see the goggles and open fire. The thought made Hoxie struggle harder but it was no use.

Completely defeated, his head shot up as the doors opened. Unable to see more than the lights from the flashlights the guards carried, his muffled scream could not be heard as they commander shouted

"Fire!"

As Riddick sat in the pilots seat, he looked at Johns out of the corner of his eye, noticing the mans discomfort. "Ya know Johns. Statistically, take offs are the most dangerous."

"No shit. Thought you said landings were." Johns said chuckling nervously, recalling their conversation when they landed at Butcher Bay.

"Guess it depends on who you have at the controls." Riddick said with a small smirk.

As they flew from the landing pad on Butcher Bay, Riddick thought about what he had heard about Butcher Bay… Toughest slam in the universe. Impossible to escape.

Riddick laughed low and mumbled, "But then they never met me…"


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick(the movie or the game)**

**Thanks to my reviewer**

TrunksgirlBlaze27: YeahI love the game,but Idon't get to play that often. Thank you, I'mglad that you liked it.

Here's the next chapter.

**Chapter 10.**

He sat alone in the green glow of the control screens. His chin resting on his cut and bruised knuckles. Checking the news wire, he learned that it didn't take them long to start tracking him and Johns and jump on their trail. If only the Company was the only thing he had to worry about. Traveling with Johns added to the tension and kept him even more on his guard. He need to find another shipand quickly, but he wasn't about to do that with Johns on board. Even though the merc was close to death, he was still dangerous. He leaned forward keying up the schematics of the skiff. He rose and turned, staring at the dying man.

Johns began to gag and cough. Spewing his blood across the walls and floor as he tried to sit up. He knew Johns wouldn't survive much longer with out medical attention. He was bleeding to death, both internally and externally. If the skiff had a jettison tube, he would have rather jettison him into space and watch the man fold in on himself with a great deal of satisfaction sprawled upon his face.

"Jesus Johns. You don't look so good.". The fake concern in his voice made his stomach turn.

"Really? That's funny cause I've never felt better." Johns announced as he wiped the blood from his chin with his sleeve, still coughing and gasping for breath. A puddle of blood had formed on the floor.

Johns moved to get up off the bench, where he had been since they had taken off from Butcher Bay, but collapsed in a heap at Riddicks' feet. A deep roar of laughter escaped the convicts' chest as he stood over the dying merc.

"Come on Johns. Get up." He nudged the man on the floor with his boot. "Ya ain't givin' up on me now are you?. We're almost there."

Confusion and anger crossed Johns' features as he looked up at the convict. Another roar of laughter came from the bald man. Bending down and grabbing Johns up by the back of his jacket. Riddick propped him up against the wall, "Let's go Johns," He said as he threw Johns over his shoulder, and started towards the entryway for the emergency pod.

Bypassing the chair, he dropped Johns on the floor. He stepped over him and disabled the emergency beacon and all of its major controls, leaving it, for the most part, useless. He set the pod to self-release in two minutes. Soon he wouldn't have to deal with this man.

"What you think you're doing Riddick?" Johns gasped weakly, trying to grab Riddicks' leg.

"In case you haven't noticed, pretty soon you're gonna be nothin' but dead weight. So I figured I'd lighten the load now to save myself some bullshit later." he replied with amusement in his voice.

"Nice knowin' ya, Johns." Riddick said as he headed out of the pod. Slapping the lock pad as he passed. The door shut and sealed behind him.

As he reached the bridge, the countdown had completed, the pod disengaged and started towards the programmed coordinates. Sighing, he ran a hand over his stubbly head. His eyes burned from the lack of sleep, and his stomach rumbled in hunger. He decided that he would plot a course for somewhere out of the way before he would tend to his own needs. Charting a plan to the closest fueling station, he set the auto pilot, and left to find the galley.

* * *

The diner hadn't been that busy so Rae asked to go home early. As she walked, Rae's heart started to pound hard inside her chest. She didn't understand why. Slowly she took a deep breath, and looked around. There was nothing behind her that her sub-conscience would have picked up on. People all walking towards their own destinations, almost oblivious of their surroundings.

As she continued to walk her apprehension grew. As more and more people passed her, she started to hear the quiet murmurs, picking up bits and pieces of information. None of which made sense to her. Set to cross the street, she saw a crowd encircling Max's newsstand, shouting at him. Hardly anyone normally noticed the shop, let alone the man that sat behind the littered counter. As she neared the stand the murmurs gave way to disbelief, which in turn gave way to awe. She didn't understand. These people had never react to anything, now they were almost in a panic.

She heard one declare that they 'couldn't believe it', another said 'impossible'. She shook with anticipation as she forced her way through the growing crowd. She didn't know where this curiosity she had, stemmed from.

Max hollered out to her. "I knew I'd be popular one day!" he chuckled, mostly to himself, as he turned up the volume on the new vid-screen that sat on the counter.

"Max, what in the hell is going on?" she hollered, hoping he could hear her over the commotion.

"That crazy bastard Riddick escaped Butcher Bay"

Her stomach sank, she couldn't believe it. She didn't even need to hear what else Max had to say. She quickly twisted around, shoving past the people that had crowded behind her to learn of the breaking story. She quickly headed towards Thomas' house.

* * *

Bang. Bang. Bang.

His head snapped up, and he shook the sleep from his head. Glancing at his chrono, he realized he had dozed off earlier than usual. The day's were quite exhausting now that he felt he needed to keep Rae and Melissa away from one another. Melissa was slowly becoming more hostile, not only towards Rae, but to everyone that came with in fifteen feet of her.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Hold on." he said as he got up from his chair.

He opened the door and a blur of brown passed him "what the hell?"

Rae stood eyes wide, hands waving rapidly in the air, mouth moving continuously, but Thomas could not understand a word she was saying. He shook his head again and held up his hand for her to stop.

"Stop." He announced. Rae looked at him in disbelief, not understanding that he couldn't understand her. When she finally stopped, he said. "Take your time and start from the beginning. Please."

Instead of repeating herself, she clicked on the vid-screen. There it was plain as day. Riddicks' bald, and menacing figure, looming on the screen. The reporter literally spitting out the news as if it were venom. The security tapes they showed were on a constant loop of Riddick killing guard after guard, climbing into the ship as he was being fired upon..

"A mercenary, William Johns, is believed to be a hostage. Riddick is armed and extremely dangerous. Authorities advise, you should in no way approach or attempt to capture the fugitive, but contact your local authorities with your information. Riddick was last seen traveling just outside the Gel'an System, and authorities believe him to be headed towards the Loranta II System. The following planets should be aware of the heightened security that is being put in place, Loran, Lakos, and Litre, These planets are being targeted due to their amount of frequent traffic and their large availability of fuel" Flashing a picture of the ship he had stolen on the screen, Rae noticed that it wasn't the same ship from the previously shown security tapes.

"No way." Rae whispered in complete awe of Riddicks' resourcefulness. _Two different ships. Damn._

Thomas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Butcher Bay was impossible to escape from. He wondered how the hell he had managed to get away with the wardens ship at that. Walking over to his vid-screen he turned it off.

Stepping up to Thomas she asked, "How did he do it?"

"Don't know, but by the looks of it, I'm sure it's one hell of a story.

"Does Jackie know?"

Rae shrugged and slowly her eyes grew big. If she knew her sister, the answer was yes, and she was probably talking poor Mrs. Davis' ear off about it. She turned quickly and started for the door.

"I'll give you a ride." Thomas said as he grabbed his keys.

* * *

Rae did not believe for a second that Jackie hadn't heard, but remarked to herself at how well she was hiding her excitement. Mrs. Davis was surprised Rae was there so early to pick up Jackie, but she sure wasn't gonna complain. Since that day a couple of weeks ago, Mrs Davis had kept her word about not letting Jackie watch the vid-screen. She had practically drove the old woman insane with her raving about Riddick the last time. Rae wondered if Mrs. Davis had any idea about his escape. She doubted the woman would even care.

Jackie was skipping through the door into the hallway.

"What's with you?" Rae asked slyly.

With a smile on her face, Jackie said "Nothin'."

Catching, and meeting the huge grin on her sisters small face with one of her own, she replied "Your not a very good liar."

As if a switch had been flipped, Jackie jumped and squealed "Can you believe it? He did it. He beat them at their own game."

Rae had to admit she had felt a bit of excitement when she learned that Riddick had escaped, she smiled at Jackie, ruffling her hair. "Yeah I guess he did, huh?"

* * *

Melissa stood at the bar, her hand wrapped tightly around the neck of the bottle. She glared at the screen, memorizing every detail of Riddicks' face, the stories of his previous capture. Loosening her grip on the bottle only after she realized that it had broken in her hand, cutting her fingers deeply, she turned and stalked out of the bar. The shouts of the bartender falling on her adrenaline rushed deaf ears.

Don't forget to leave a little comment. Tell me what you think.


End file.
